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You're All I Need to Get By
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| "You're All I Need to Get By" | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell from the album You're All I Need |
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| Released | April 1968 | ||||
| Format | 7" single | ||||
| Recorded | Hitsville USA, Detroit, Michigan; 1967 | ||||
| Genre | R&B/soul | ||||
| Length | 2:38 | ||||
| Label | Tamla | ||||
| Writer | Nickolas Ashford Valerie Simpson |
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| Producer | Ashford & Simpson | ||||
| Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell singles chronology | |||||
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"You're All I Need to Get By" is a song recorded by the American R&B/soul duo Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell and released on Motown Records' Tamla label in 1968. It was the basis for the 1995 single "I'll Be There for You/You're All I Need to Get By" by Method Man and Mary J. Blige.
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Written by real-life couple Nickolas Ashford & Valerie Simpson, it became one of the few Motown recordings of the 1960s that was not recorded with the familiar "Motown sound". Instead, "You're All I Need to Get By" had a more soulful and gospel-oriented theme surrounding it, that was influenced by the writers sharing vocals in a church choir in New York. The song, recorded first separately by the two singers (reportedly to cut studio time and give time for the wheelchair-riddled Terrell to record while going over surgery to repair the malignant brain tumor that eventually killed her) and then overdubbed by Motown engineers and mixers to make it a Marvin and Tammi duet. Ashford and Simpson also sung background on the song's memorable vamp where they repeated the name of the song in the beginning and during Marvin and Tammi's verses.
The original recording by Gaye and Terrell peaked at number seven on the Billboard Hot 100 and number-one on Billboard's Hot Soul Singles chart for five weeks, becoming one of the longest-running number one R&B hits of 1968, becoming the most successful duet recording of Marvin Gaye's entire career. Given its global appeal, it also reached #19 on the British singles charts in late 1968, staying there for nineteen weeks.
- All lead vocals by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell
- Background vocals by Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson
- Produced by Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson
- Instrumentation by The Funk Brothers
| Preceded by "This Is How We Do It" by Montell Jordan |
Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs number one single May 20, 1995 |
Succeeded by "Don't Take It Personal (Just One of Dem Days)" by Monica |
Both major versions of this song were referenced in "All I Need" by Jay-Z when he says: "And all...I...need is a chick to hold a jammy like/Meth and Mary, like, Marvin and Tammi"
On the first season of American Idol, winner Kelly Clarkson sang this song during Motown week and Jasmine Trias also sang it on the third season. On the sixth season finale, American Idol Winner Jordin Sparks sang it as a duet with second-season winner Ruben Studdard.